268 Deaths, More than a Hundred Still Missing as the Search Continues After Tragic Indonesian Earthquake

Rescuers were searching through the rubble on Tuesday for survivors of the strong earthquake that destroyed homes and other structures in a densely populated part of West Java province, Indonesia, killing at least 268 people.

(Photo : Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP) (Photo by ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images)
Rescue workers carry the body of a victim in Cianjur on November 22, 2022, following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 200 people, with hundreds injured and others missing.

More than 1,000 people were hurt, and 151 more people are still missing, according to the nation's National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB).

Powerful Earthquake

Around 12:21 PM, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Cianjur district of West Java, as per CNN

Buildings collapsed while school lessons were in session on Monday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Following early inconsistencies in the reported death toll being provided by officials, the scope of the death and devastation wrought by the earthquake on Tuesday became increasingly obvious.

According to BNPB Major General Suharyanto on Tuesday, more than 22,000 dwellings were demolished, and more than 58,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

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Devastating Java

(Photo : Photo by TIMUR MATAHARI/AFP via Getty Images)

Photos showed streets littered with bricks and metal fragments and buildings reduced to rubble.

West Java's governor, Ridwan Kamil, told reporters on Monday that "the bulk of those who killed were kids" and that the death toll was sure to rise further.

There were so many occurrences at different Islamic schools.

According to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, which claimed that more than 50 schools had been affected, the strong earthquakes pulled kids out of their classrooms.

The organization quoted Mia Saharosa, a teacher at one of the impacted schools, saying that the earthquake "was a shock to all of us."

A government representative from Cianjur, Herman Suherman, informed the media that several residents were trapped in the wreckage of collapsed buildings.

On Metro TV's news broadcast, it looked like hundreds of wounded were receiving care in a hospital parking lot.

According to Reuters, television images showed people huddling outside nearly completely demolished structures.

President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, who visited the earthquake-affected districts on Tuesday, said that the government would offer homeowners of severely damaged homes compensation of up to $3,200 apiece.

Jokowi stated that homes should be rebuilt as earthquake-resistant structures.

Unidentified resident Muchlis claimed to have experienced a "big tremor" and damage to his office's walls and ceiling.

"I was astonished. I was concerned about another earthquake," he told Metro TV.

Since 25 aftershocks were registered in the first two hours following the earthquake, Indonesia's agency of meteorology, the BMKG, issued a warning about the risk of landslides, particularly in the case of heavy rain.

He said that the situation was still chaotic and that some trapped people were not readily accessible by rescuers.

The victims' basic needs are met as government officials construct tents and shelters.

In contrast, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his "deepest regrets" in response to the fatalities on Tuesday during the ASEAN multilateral summit in Cambodia.

Pacific Ring of Fire

The "Ring of Fire," a region around the Pacific Ocean that frequently experiences earthquakes and volcanic activity, passes through Indonesia.

It runs from Japan and Indonesia on one side of the Pacific to California and South America on the other, making it one of the seismically active zones in the world.

In 2004, a tsunami that slammed 14 nations and killed 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia, was caused by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra.